Sergio Mattarella and Emmanuel Macron say "do" to each other.

And in French.

Because the Italian president is francophone.

Mattarella not only speaks the "tu" with an unmistakable accent, so that it sounds almost Italian.

But this tongue-tickling sounds charming in French ears.

Matthias Rüb

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

  • Follow I follow

    Mattarella made his public appearances almost entirely in French during his two-day state visit to Paris at the beginning of the week, especially the major European policy speech at the Sorbonne.

    The visit to the neighboring country was, as Mattarella emphasized several times, his first trip abroad since the beginning of the pandemic a year and a half ago: not the slightest sign of the “unique bond” (Mattarella) between the Romance sister nations.

    Political foster son from the neighboring house

    The chemistry between the almost 80-year-old Italian and the 37-year-old Frenchman is also right on a personal level. As heads of state, they meet at eye level, as a person Macron Mattarella shows the respect of a political foster son from the neighboring house. The respective domestic political constellations are currently more favorable than they have been for a long time for an even closer connection between the neighbors. The signing of the Quirinals Treaty, which corresponds to the model of the Franco-German friendship treaty of Aachen, is planned for this autumn.

    The most recent irritations have been forgotten when the populists from the right (Interior Minister Matteo Salvini) and from the left (Labor Minister Luigi Di Maio) were in power together in Rome from June 2018 to August 2019. Salvini had demonstratively sought proximity to Marine Le Pen at the time, Di Maio that to the movement of the yellow vests - even physically during a visit to the neighboring country, which was a moderate affront to the disconcerted host. Salvini's right-wing national Lega returned to the de facto all-party government under Mario Draghi in February, but Salvini does not hold any cabinet office. Di Maio of the left-wing populist five-star movement, in turn, as acting foreign minister, submits to Prime Minister Draghi's policy authority. And he gets along with Macron as well as Mattarella.

    Migration policy a "wound for Europe"

    In his speech at the Sorbonne entitled “France, Italy, Europe and our future”, Mattarella emphasized that, after initial difficulties, Europeans had been able to face the challenge of the pandemic together.

    Mattarella made the same praiseworthy diagnosis for the strategy for overcoming the economic crisis after the health crisis: in principle, everyone was pulling in the same direction.

    Mattarella complained that where there was still a lack of common ground was migration policy: "The inability to manage migration is a wound for Europe," said Mattarella.

    Host Macron was also able to agree: The circumstance is not a burden for bilateral relations between Rome and Paris, but is a challenge for the entire continent.

    Most recently, the French made a gesture of good neighborly will of historical importance. In April, seven former members of the Red Brigades were temporarily arrested in various cities in France. The largest left-wing terrorist group, which was active from 1970 to 1988, was responsible for almost 90 murders during the "Anni di piombo", the "leaden years" of left and right-wing extremist terrorism in Italy.

    For years Rome had been demanding the transfer of the former Red Brigadists from Paris, who had been sentenced in absentia to long prison terms by Italian courts and who until recently had been able to feel safe under the shield of the so-called Mitterand doctrine. In 1985, the then socialist President François Mitterrand ennobled the left-wing terrorists from the neighboring country as "political activists" against the allegedly resurgent fascism in Italy and granted them asylum. This doctrinal legacy in Franco-Italian relations is now also out of the way, even if the former terrorists will defend themselves against extradition to their home country.